Thursday, November 2, 2017

Essential Thanksgiving Cooking Hacks So You Can Focus on Wine

Thanksgiving turkey and wine

Let me guess. Mom made one snide comment about you not having “backup linens,” so you volunteered to host Thanksgiving and prove what an adult you are. Didn’t think she’d call your bluff, and now you’ve got 11 people to cook for and almost no time or idea how to do it.

Deep breath. You CAN do this, but you’re going to need some holiday hacks…lots and lots of hacks. We’ve plumbed the depths to bring you the best cooking tips and hosting tricks, designed to conserve what little time and sanity remains AND deliver a Thanksgiving for the ages.

Let’s get to it…

Make a List & Plan

This might be the single most important thing you can do, right after Aunt Janet-proofing the liquor cabinet. Map out what exactly you have to do, what you need to do it, approximately how long it will take, and how much oven/stovetop space it’ll require (often overlooked).

Next, type it up neatly or plug into a handy app like the Paprika Recipe Manager to keep you organized and on track and do your shopping a few days before to avoid supermarket stampedes.

Turkey

Let’s start here since this is probably the single most important, complicated, and time-consuming item on the menu. Make your motto “High and Dry” (don’t worry, we’ll explain) and you’ll be in excellent shape.

Go Dry

Brining, or the infusion of salt into the meat for flavor and moisture, has become somewhat ubiquitous for notoriously dry turkey and is highly recommended.

A dry brine (vigorous salt rub) is a much simpler endeavor than the classic wet brine requiring fewer steps, less time, space, and equipment. Dry brines also result in a very salty, crispy skin, so yeah…go dry!

dry brined roast Thanksgiving turkey

Chowhound

Get our Dry-Brined Roast Turkey recipe.

There are still some purists who swear by a no-brine bird, however, so don’t stress if you must forego.

Get High

Much can be said for high-heat cooking with regard to results and, naturally, it cuts cooking time down quite a bit.

The below recipe calls for only two hours at a scalding hot 500-525 degrees for a 16 to 18-pound bird. Be careful to adjust for time and weight and this should yield a juicy bird with extra crispy skin.

high heat roast turkey for Thanksgiving

Genius Kitchen

Get the recipe.

Spatch Me if You Can

Spatch cooking, an increasingly popular method by which the turkey’s backbone is removed and breastbones are cracked so the bird cooks flat (and fast), is a no-brainer if time is of the essence.

Admittedly, you won’t get that Norman Rockwell glamour shot for Instagram, but your turkey cooks in a fraction of the time and the risk of drying out decreases greatly. To save even more time, have your butcher ‘spatch’ the turkey for you and note that you can and should still brine it.

butterflied or spatchcocked turkey for Thanksgiving with butternut squash stuffing

Chowhound

Get our Butterflied Roasted Turkey recipe.

The Make-Aheads

If your turkey motto is “High and Dry,” make your motto for everything else “what can be done before, should be done before.” Catchy, right?

Mashed Potatoes

This side dish hall-of-famer is a sneaky time-suck on Thanksgiving. The good news is you can make them up to two days ahead and reheat without losing any of the fluffy, creamy goodness.

make ahead mashed potatoes

Cooks Illustrated

Get the recipe.

Save even more time (and confuse anyone who lives with you) by washing your potatoes in the dishwasher. WITHOUT soap!

More Make-Aheads:

This Chowhound list of make-ahead recipes will be your very best friend. We’ve even pulled out a few favorites to get you started.

make ahead turkey gravy for Thanksgiving

Chowhound

  • Stuffing will need to be popped back in the oven or under the broil to re-crisp the top, but with all the chopping and mixing involved, you’re well advised to to pre-prepare. Get our Make-Ahead Apple and Sage Stuffing recipe.
make ahead apple sage stuffing for Thanksgiving

Chowhound

  • Making desserts ahead of time is a no-brainer since they keep well. Fruit pies are okay, but can occasionally suffer from soggy-crust syndrome. This Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake, however, will thrive. Even overnight. Get our Make-Ahead Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake recipe.
make ahead marbled pumpkin cheesecake

Chowhounf

  • Somehow lost in the shuffle, is arguably the best part of Thanksgiving, or any holiday: The booze! Throw together a fun and fabulous large batch cocktail, like this Hot Spiked Wassail, and watch Aunt Janet go! Get our Make-Ahead Hot Spiked Wassail recipe.
slow cooker mulled wine or wassail

Chowhound

Pre-Chop & Prep

Chopping vegetables is proven to be therapeutic, but not when you’ve got 427 other things to do: the dog just swallowed a fidget spinner and your sister showed up early with her “free-spirited” twins.

Do yourself a favor: Chop, peel, and wash as much as you can the night before and seal in plastic bags or Tupperware. You’ll be so glad you did.

Get Bossy

Don’t be afraid to delegate dishes and tasks to guests, but be smart and gauge their strengths and capabilities in advance. Don’t put your nephew, a sophomore at Michigan State, in charge of the bar, for instance. You’ll end up with an ice luge and 30-pack of Busch Light.

Some people love cooking and will be delighted to pitch in, but give options, like a dessert or simple side dish. If you are going to ask for help, do it passively and make sure they really have the time. They may genuinely be too busy, and nobody wants a Grudge Judy at the table.

Well, that’s all. I think you’re ready.  Get out there and hack your way to a Thanksgiving so delicious and stress-free, you might just volunteer to host Christmas.

Just kidding…don’t do that. Put down the wine.



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What Is the Difference Between Quinoa, Farro, and Wheat Berries?

what is the difference between quinoa, farro, and wheat berries

Once upon a time, most people just cooked pasta or rice when it came to grains. Nowadays, the variety of starch-based side dishes has increased tenfold; couscous, freekeh, bulgur, and the like are now a ubiquitous sighting that line grocery store aisles and pop up just as frequently as pasta in recipes. This upsurge certainly can make it much more difficult to narrow down a side dish, especially when all those options look similar and are cooked the same way: in a small pot in boiling water. While deriving the difference between pasta and rice is much more evident to the eye, discerning the difference between quinoa, farro, and wheat berries (and the latter two especially) is a bit more complicated. Read on to determine the difference between all three.

Quinoa

While most refer to quinoa (pronounced “keen-wah”) as a grain, it’s actually a seed, and one that’s thousands of years old, getting its origins from the Andes Mountains. The quinoa seeds stem from a flowering plant (a relative of spinach!) that, after being harvested, goes through a manufacturing process to get rid of the bitter outer coating. The result is the quinoa that’s packaged and sold in stores, one that’s round in shape, similar to a lentil. It’s sold in a variety of colors, including the omnipresent yellow and tan, as well as orange, red, pink, purple, black, and some varieties often come packaged with multiple colors.

Quinoa is an extremely healthy substitute for pasta or something similar, boasting more protein than other grains or seeds. Is also contains all the necessary amino acids that our bodies can’t make on their own. Furthermore, it’s high in calcium, lysine, vitamin B, and iron, plus it’s gluten-free.

While quinoa’s flavor isn’t particularly overpowering—a combination of brown rice and oatmeal, with a bit of crunchy nuttiness—it can be easily dressed up to suit everyone’s taste preferences. If it’s too plain on its own, try it with a bit of olive oil or butter, or add your favorite dressing, a handful of dried cranberries, a salty cheese such as feta, and a leafy green (try massaged kale or spinach), to turn it from just a basic side into a bona fide main dish.

Farro

Farro, unlike quinoa, is a grain (one that’s not gluten-free) and an ancient grain at that, having been domesticated over 10,000 years ago. It’s a type of hulled grain, similar to barley and einkorn, which gets its name from the fact that the hull sticks to the grain when harvested. The hull is removed while the grain is processed, producing farro.

While farro has an almost identical shape to rice, uniquely oblong in stature, it’s a dark shade of brown, similar to brown rice, and designated as either semi-pearled or pearled. Its flavor is much more muted, unlike quinoa’s potent nuttiness, but it’s just as soft and tender as rice. Plus, it’s a healthy alternative that’s high in calcium, magnesium, fiber, and iron. Farro is a great substitute for arborio rice in risotto, as a crunchy addition in salads, or simply a side to roast chicken or fish.

Wheat Berries

A wheat berry is a wheat kernel—a whole grain form of wheat—meaning it’s the original source of all wheat products (including flour) before any refinement or manufacturing occurs. Wheat berries are almost identical to farro, flaunting that tan and somewhat reddish-brown color, but take a long time to cook and are a bit chewier and lighter than farro.

During the manufacturing process, since the wheat kernel is left totally intact, none of the nutrients are taken away, leaving an extremely healthy grain packed with fiber, iron, and protein. It pairs quite nicely with winter ingredients, like Brussels sprouts and butternut squash, and can easily star as the main item in salads.

Check the bulk items aisle in the grocery store where you can stock up on all three grains, or look in organic grocery stores where you’ll find brand names like Bob’s Red Mill and Ancient Harvest.

Quinoa Recipes

Garlic Mushroom Quinoa

garlic mushroom quinoa

Damn Delicious

Spice up your quinoa side dish with a ton of minced garlic, cremini mushrooms, thyme, and Parmesan cheese. Get the recipe.

Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

Mediterranean quinoa salad

Cooktoria

Quinoa stars in this Mediterranean-inspired salad, which is studded with black olives, roasted peppers, corn, cilantro, and feta cheese. Get the recipe.

Cheesy Quinoa Cakes with a Roasted Garlic and Lemon Aioli

cheesy quinoa cakes with roasted garlic lemon aioli

DianaEatingRichly / Genius Kitchen

While zucchini and other vegetables make great fritters, try out this version where quinoa is the main ingredient. Cooked quinoa, fontina, green onions, and a bit of flour is pounded together to make patties, which are fried in olive oil and then slathered with a garlic, lemon aioli. Get the recipe.

Farro Recipes

Mediterranean Kale, Cannellini, and Farro Stew

Mediterranean kale stew with cannelini beans and farro

Cooking Classy

Warm up on cold days with this winter-ready soup, packed with everything from carrots to farro to yellow onions and feta cheese. Get the recipe.

Farro Cranberry and Goat Cheese Salad

farro cranberry goat cheese salad

Life’s Ambrosia

Farro is a great grain to substitute in salads, especially if you’re craving something other than lettuce. This version is simple to make: Just cook the farro, add dried cranberries, crumbled goat cheese, a couple of spices, and the dressing. Get the recipe.

Farro Risotto with Squash and Kale

farro risotto with butternut squash and kale

Alexandra Cooks

The addition of farro makes this a healthier version of risotto—one that still manages to be uber creamy, thanks to roasted and then pureed butternut squash. Get the recipe.

Wheat Berry Recipes

Three Cheese and Wheat Berry Spinach Pie

three cheese wheat berry pie

Baking Obsession

This is basically a crustless cheese pie, stuffed with spinach, wheat berries, garlic, ricotta cheese, mozzarella, Pecorino Romano, eggs, and nutmeg. Get the recipe.

Autumn Wheat Berry Salad

autumn wheat berry salad with butternut squash

Real Food & Ice Cream

Wheat berries are dressed up with roasted butternut squash, cranberries, slivered almonds, and orange zest, making this a super easy and light dish for lunch. Get the recipe.

Wheat Berry Cinnamon Porridge

cinnamon wheat berry breakfast porridge

Show Food Chef

Swap out oats with wheat berries for this sweet and healthy breakfast staple. Just cook the wheat berries normally, then infuse it with warm cinnamon and vanilla-infused milk. Get the recipe.



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Why Does the McRib Always Come Back?

The McRib is back. If you feel like you’re getting déjà vu from reading that sentence, you’re not wrong. The fast food item is truly the Lazarus of the McDonald’s menu, repeatedly rising from the dead. Roughly every November for the past few years the McRib has popped up in select McDonald’s across the U.S., for a limited time of course. This week it’s being rolled out, yet again, in Southern California and Hawaii, with more locations on the way, only to retreat back to the grave for the rest of the year.

But it wasn’t always this way. The barbecue pork sandwich was an initial flop when McDonalds introduced the item in 1981. The sandwich was the brainchild of Roger Mandigo, a meat scientist from Nebraska (yes, such a job exists) and Rene Arend, a Luxembourg-born, French-trained chef from the Drake Hotel. Arend was lured away from working at the upper-class Whitehall Club upon meeting McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc in the 1970s. Kroc offered him a job as McDonald’s first executive chef in hopes of increasing the menu’s offerings. It was a challenge that could not be turned down. It was then that he came up with the McRib, a product patterned after his favorite South Carolina barbecue dish, but it was Mandigo who helped perfect the creation by inventing its absurd ribless-ribbed shape.

Such intense meat-restructuring is done through the process of comminution. Here’s how Mandigo described it in a 1995 interview:

“Restructured meat products are commonly manufactured by using lower-valued meat trimmings reduced in size by comminution (flaking, chunking, grinding, chopping or slicing). The comminuted meat mixture is mixed with salt and water to extract salt-soluble proteins. These extracted proteins are critical to produce a “glue” which binds muscle pieces together. These muscle pieces may then be reformed to produce a “meat log” of specific form or shape. The log is then cut into steaks or chops which, when cooked, are similar in appearance and texture to their intact muscle counterparts.”

It’s not unlike the McNugget (its far more successful kin, which was introduced nationwide in 1983), in which irregular cuts of meats, muscles, and other unmarketable animal parts, like hearts and tripe, are fused together to create a Franken-food of sorts. In other words, no part of the McRib is actually a rib.

The McRib’s initial run only lasted four years. After tepid sales, it was pulled from the menu in 1985 and only returned periodically for promotions. In 1994 it was sold as a tie-in to The Flintstones live-action movie and remained on the menu in certain international locations, like Germany, where it sold very well.

In the years that followed, given its scarcity and mish-mash of ingredients, the McRib took on a mythic quality. One popular urban legend claimed the sandwich was made of kangaroo meat. The sandwich was even parodied on a Simpsons episode in which Homer goes on an epic quest for “Ribwich” at his favorite fast food chain, Krusty Burger. It was also the butt of jokes on sitcoms from Roseanne to The Big Bang Theory. Proof that even when it wasn’t available for consumption, the McRib maintained its status as both a punchline and the holy grail of fast food sandwiches.

But 2005 tolled a death knell (or so we thought) for the beloved sandwich. McDonald’s claimed it would be permanently removed following a “McRib Farewell Tour.” However, an online petition to “Save the McRib” on behalf of the “Boneless Pig Farmers of America” soon emerged. But, unsurprisingly, it was just a surreptitious marketing ploy—the website was actually registered to McDonald’s. But this manufactured outrage worked. It naturally resulted in the “McRib Farewell Tour II” in 2006 and yet a third in 2007 in which Mickey D’s sold over 30 million sandwiches containing over 7 million pounds of meat.

Nearly every year since has seen a similar cycle. The sandwich would come back to resounding hysteria, usually around November, and then leave a month or two later. Which is probably why you’ve seen the same headlines, year after year. From a business perspective, playing hard to get has proven an incredible tactic for McDonalds. The McRib marketing strategy bundles the appeal of exclusivity and scarcity with a seasonal approach. But one question remains. Why November? The timing of the roll-out usually correlates to pork availability, giving the lowest price point options to consumers.

The success of the McRib as an annual favorite puts it on par with the Shamrock Shake, at least in terms of the giddy anticipation it generates. It shows no sign of stopping, which means we’ll likely be seeing the food appear (and disappear) for years to come. No bones about it.



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Spinach and Artichoke Dip Baked Potatoes

Spinach and Artichoke Dip Baked Potatoes
Potato chips with spinach and artichoke dip is quintessential party food, but swap out the chips for ultimate baked potatoes, and suddenly the combination is perfect for a weekday dinner. By scooping out the potato flesh and mashing it with the dip before re-stuffing, you get a ton of flavor in every bite of baked potato. Get Recipe!


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CAULIPOWER Increases Availability

CAULIPOWER celebrates vegetables, and is lower in calories, sugar, fat, and sodium and higher in protein, fiber, and vitamins than most traditional and gluten-free pizzas.

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Win-Win: Johnsonville Sausage, Egg & Cheese Biscuit

Sometimes you don’t need a crystal ball to know the trends. It’s no secret consumers embrace snacking as a 24x7 way of life. Interestingly too, they want flavors of certain meals—such as breakfast—any time and all the time.

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Ocean Spray Organic 100% Juice Blends

Each one-liter bottle of Ocean Spray's Pure Cranberry (Unsweetened) 100% Juice provides the health benefits from the juice of more than 900 cranberries.

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Favorite Products: September 2017

There is no question about it. Barry Callebaut Ruby Chocolate is a popular new product among Prepared Foods readers. The product took 47% of the vote in the monthly Favorite Products Poll. 

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Touch and Go Technology

It’s no secret that when you’re responsible for a leading coffee creamer brand, you keep a close eye on coffee trends. Then again, there could be some secret magic to how your brand responds to those trends. 

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